Improvement in grain-cradles



UNITED STATES `PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL D. WARREN, OF LEBANON, ALABAMA.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN-CRADLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16,8! 5, dated March 10, 1857.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I,- SAMUEL D. WARREN, of Lebanon, in the county otl De Kalb and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Cradles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part thereof, and which represents in perspective the cradle in question.

The nature of my invention relates to the peculiar manner in which I gather the fingers of the cradle so as to adjust them to the scythe.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use myinven tion, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawing.

A represents the sneed or snath of the cradle, the scythe B being fastened to said'sneed in any of the usual well-known ways. Near that point of the sneed to which the scythe is fastened is secured to thesneed an upright standard, C, and at the bend a on said sneed is also secured another upright bar or brace, D, the two uprights being united by a rung, b.

A bow, E, is united by one of its ends to the top of the standard C, and, receiving the top also of the bar or brace D, curves downward, and, passing through the sneed at c, is held by a leather thong, as is also its other end on C, so that it can-be readily removed when the cradle is converted intoascythefor mowing grass. A third upright, F, is secured to the` Scythe B, and. this upright is united to the bar or brace D by the rungs d d d d. From the top of this standard F, to which it is secured by a thong,A

as seen in the drawing, passes a bar, G, its other end passing through a mortise in the top of the brace D and held therein by a key, e, for the purpose of giving the gather f to the fingers, as will be described hereinafter.

The standards C F are united by the rungs ffff, and the ngers H pass through both of said standards and curve around somewhatin the shape of the scythe, their points being held by a brace or support, I. The ngers slip through the standard F, and tenons on their ends pass through mortises in the standard C, and are secured there by thongs, as shown.

The object of this construction is to make a light and strong cradle that can be adjusted to suit its particular kind ot' work and be readily converted from a cradle for cutting grain to a scythe for cutting grass. The standard Fcan be drawn or pushed at its top toward or from the-operator by the bar G, and thus the fingers may be drawn to or forced from him, the topmost fingers overhanging those below it more or less, just as the operator may desire.

The-heels of the fingers may move very little, if any, as they are fixed in the standard C, but as the standard Fis moved so will the ngers be moved, giving them the proper gather.

J is the handle by which the cradle is held by the right hand of the operator, while with his left hand he holds the sneed byits end A.

Ihat part of the barG which passes through the brace D should be notched underneath, and these notches may catch over a lmetallic pin in the brace, so that'when adjusted and the key e is inserted it will all be firm.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, I would state that I am aware that the fingers of cradles have been gathered. I do not therefore claim the doing, but

What Ido claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the standards O D F, fingers H, and sneed A, when so made and united as that by the bar G said fingers may be gathered or adjusted, as herein set forth, and for the purposes explained.

S. D. WARREN.

Witnesses:

D. L. NICHOLSON, R. W. HIGGINS.

principle of so 

